Group of Friends launched by India to promote accountability for crime against peacekeepers

Group of Friends launched by India to promote accountability for crime against peacekeepers

“Group of Friends” launched by India during the presidency of the United Nation Security Council (UNSC) to promote accountability for crimes done against peacekeepers. At the same time, India’s External Affair Minister announced that New Delhi will soon have a database that will record all crimes against the Blue Helmet.

India, Egypt, Bangladesh, France, Morocco and Nepal are the co-chairs of Group of Friend.

It will seek to facilitate capacity building and technical assistance to host state authorities. And it will also promote accountability both within and outside the UNSC.

Group of Friends will convene 2 meetings of its members per year, organise and host one event per year involving Permanent Missions and other stakeholders. It will actively engage and share information with United Nation Secretary General. It will also assist the member states hosting and have hosted peacekeeping operations, in bringing to justice the perpetrators of crime against peacekeepers.

The Resolution 2589 was adopted last year in August under the presidency of India in UNSC. It called upon member states hosting or have hosted United Nation peacekeeping operations, to take all appropriate measures to bring to justice perpetrators of the killing of , and all act of violence against United Nations personnel, including but not limited to, their detention and abduction.

The operations are undertaken by the United Nation (UN) to maintain or restore international peace and security in area of conflict. These operations are mandated by United Nation Security Council (UNSC) and are usually deployed with the consent of host country. The main objective of UN peacekeeping operations are to :

• Maintain and restore international peace and security
• Protect civilians
• Helps countries transition from conflict to peace
• Assist in the implementation of peace agreements

UN peacekeeping operations are funded by voluntary contribution from member states. Since the establishment of UN in 1945, there have been 71 peacekeeping operations, including that are currently going on.

India is the largest contributor of troops to UN peacekeeping operations, with more than 6,500 personnel deployed in various missions around the world. India has participated in almost 50 UN peacekeeping missions, including those that are currently ongoing. India has last 177 of its peacekeepers in the line of duty, the largest by far from any troop-contributing country.

In recognition of its contributions to UN peacekeeping, India was elected as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council in 2021-2022, with a mandate to promote international peace and security.